Anyone have pics of Chaos at Opryland?

i was wondering if anyone had pictures of Chaos that was dismantled at Opryland. Thanks!

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If you hate rollercoaster, I hate you!

Yes, I was telling him about how unique this ride was, but how pictures of it are knowhere to be found. There used to be that tribute site for it, www.access2control.com but...well, you can click for yourself. Hopefully somebody has some pics saved on their PC or something?

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The Millenium Force ride Ops: Squishing you where it counts since 2000.
Track Record: 62 coasters at 17 parks.

**runs into the corner and starts to cry** Why Gaylord why did you have to destroy Opryland for a mall. You darn dirty apes.

Well check out rcdb they seem to have a few pictures of the once great coaster lying in a field rusty and rotting itself. Really sad pictures.

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery165.htm
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There's pics of it's sister ride, Revolution at Bobbejaaland, on RCDB too

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery917.htm

including a shot of a model

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery917.htm?Picture=1

I've surmised that the red track on the inside was the circular lift and the blue track the gravity powered portion of the ride.

Looks pretty lame to me, though I suppose the effects added to the experience.

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Touchè, teacher, touchè.

There's a clone in Belgium. The pics look very close to what was Chaos.

http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery917.htm

Not a great ride imho. Interestingly, it did have the longest coaster train on record. 40 2-passenger vehicles, for a total of 80 passengers.

Holy cow, the glories of the internet.
Access2control has been archived on the wayback machine

http://web.archive.org/web/20010202033000/http://www.access2control.com/
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Touchè, teacher, touchè.

ThemeDesigner said:

Looks pretty lame to me, though I suppose the effects added to the experience.

It was lame. Even with the 'effects', that were eventually removed. Opryland never did really make good decisions, Chaos being a prime example.

How dare you say that Chaos was lame. It was a great ride. The effects did look cool even after 5 years i spent riding it as a kid. It made not be the fastest or tallest but my god it was the funnest ride in the park. And judging from the long lines that i had to wait while i was a kid it was a good decision by Opryland.

Was adding Hangman a bad decision too. Granted the park never really stood out but come on, the park had huge potential. The only bad decision they mad was tearing it down.
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It was definitely hella-lame, which would be my guess as to why there haven't been any more Vekoma/Illusion's constructed again...and why this ride hasn't been resurected from the graveyard. Basically you went in a circle up and came down in a circle...wooopee. The special effects were, mediocre at best when they worked properly. Overall, It was a sad attempt to quinch the coaster thirst of Opryland guests that failed. If it were so great the park may still be open today!?!

I've been pretty bitter in my assessment of Opryland in the past on here...the bad management....the poor ride choices when they did add the new ride ever so sparingly...It's just that I, like many others, saw the potential in Opryland, and then I saw it all flushed down the toilet before my very eyes. Enuf on that dead horse...*sigh*.

Yeah, I never said Opryland didn't have potential. They had lots of potential to the end. I don't remember long lines for Chaos. In my last reply, I almost mentioned that after the first year, it was often a walk-on for us.

When Chaos opened, many people were expecting much more. Remember the movie of the clock projected on the floor? Remember the 'dragon' head!? Come on.

Making bad decisions includes the decision each year not to add a ride.

Chaos owned me and you. The theming was so neat, I thought. Just because it wasn't high tech or anything, you dismiss it as nothing. And the second half of the ride was PITCH dark, couldnt see a thing, thats what made it great. Also the monster at the end with the head chopper was GREAT. Say what you want about Chaos being lame, but I'll always love it. I also loved the thumping bass music that they played. Really added to the expierence. Thank you ThemeDesigner for finding that archive. Brought back some great memories.

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The Millenium Force ride Ops: Squishing you where it counts since 2000.
Track Record: 62 coasters at 17 parks.

I loved Opryland, and I loved Chaos. Just goes to show what's lame to one man is another man's thrill. Opryland was groundbreaking at one time when, if I'm not mistaken, they had the first Arrow Corkscrew coaster installation (Wabash Cannonball). Maybe Knott's was first - I'm not exactly sure. Also, Opryland had one of the first Arrow bobsled coasters (Screamin' Delta Demon). The park's "Carousel on the Lake" was gorgeous and possibly the only one of its kind ever built featuring an undulating track with various sized hills and valleys. It was a fun park, and it was a very bad decision to tear it down in my opinion. I'm not down with Gaylord.

I believe the Wabash was one of the first three, opening close to the same time, but I think the one at Knott's was officially the first. Anyone know exactly?

Also let me say if Opryland wasn't your home park, you can't really understand what a let down Chaos was to us here...well my family and friends at least. You know how it is. After hearing so much about it as it was being built from friends, Opryland employees, advertisements, etc, we were expecting something like Space Mountain, or some really good effects (or both). Also not having a new real coaster in 14 years at that point, we were hoping for something a little less 'tame'.
Now with that said, if I found out today that it was sitting nearby, operational, would I want to ride it? Absolutely. :) Nostalgia sucks...

Yes, The Wabash was one of the first Three Corkscrews to open in 1975, I think it was 2nd. I was very surprised that this "Back of the Line" park was one of the first to install a modern looping coaster.

Thrillerman1 said: Also, Opryland had one of the first Arrow bobsled coasters Arrow did not build any of these. It was built by Intamin.

Opryland's Carousel was very beautiful, and I remember it out of the 80's Childhood Memories. Oddly, the Park got rid of it in 1987 and replaced it with a Bird Show. They did get another Carousel in the 90's, but it was a much more "cheap" model that is commonly found at a fair.

I reflect the comments above that the Park was never managed right. The National Life/Roy Acuff people managed it better than Gaylord ever did. They were never with the times. When they should have done this, they did that.

All my memories are kinda muffled of it...it was so long ago when I rode it...I was probably only 10 or 11 the first and last time I rode Chaos. I just remember really loving it at the time. I'll never forget it.

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The Millenium Force ride Ops: Squishing you where it counts since 2000.
Track Record: 62 coasters at 17 parks.

Some people might say it was lame and not worth the money, others like me, stljason1, and thrillerman1 loved the ride. The idea of Opryland still rest in my head for the soul reason that it was my closest park (still 2 hours away). But i would gladly spend that drive to ride Chaos and all the other great attractions.

Sure, Opryland was not the best park, and the country theme was somewhat irritating but that was all i had as a child. Grizzly River Rampage was the greatest thrill ride of them all. The Hangman stood towering over the park, while chaos was the adventourous side of me hanging out.

Chaos was the perfect ride to me, because it was my first roller coaster i have ever been on. So my opinions might be a little biased, but that proves that everyone loves there first roller coaster experience.

Opryland could have been sold to six flags or even the people that owned Kentucky Kingdom. But Gaylord decided end the end that a mall would be more profitable (which is sadly not true, and Gaylord is only holding on by a tiny thread).

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Opryland could have been sold to six flags or even the people that owned Kentucky Kingdom.

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Or to Busch, since as Dukeis#1 said in another post, they considered buying Opryland when National Life sold it to Gaylord, but didn't since they would have to buy the hotel and opry also. BTW, this happened in '83.
Also in '81 American General acquired National Life, including it's Opryland properties.
I don't quiet get how Gaylord wouldn't sell *just* Opryland without selling the hotel/opry/wsm to Six Flags when they were interested in the mid 90's (also info Dukeis#1 gave), but then just a short while later Gaylord decides to tear down *just* Opryland, and they still own the other properties. Seems like the same thing. Especially now (see below).

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But Gaylord decided end the end that a mall would be more profitable (which is sadly not true, and Gaylord is only holding on by a tiny thread).

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I don't know about the profitability of the mall the first couple years (how do you?), but do know Gaylord sold their 33.3% stake in Opry Mills (which was mainly the land) in June '02, to the Mills Corp.

I'm not quite sure why they just wouldn't do that either. I think the reason National Life would not sell them all seperatly back in the 80's was because the park might of lost it's connection with th GOO. I think the reason Gaylord would not sell was because they wanted to keep the land it was on.

If anyone cares, Alex's Place has a few photos of the park in general, and in some Pictures, Chaos's Exterior is visible.

There is also a new tribute site being built on the web for the park, A Tribute to Opryland USA, from the guy who had Acess2Contol.

Thanks for pointing out that opryland tribute site being built. I will definatley keep my eye on that.

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The Millenium Force ride Ops: Squishing you where it counts since 2000.
Track Record: 62 coasters at 17 parks.

It is fantastic to see all the love for Opryland here. Yeah, the park never had a woodie, which in my opinion could've possibly saved the park from the competition over at SFoG, but it was still entertaining. I have never ridden a water raft ride as good as Opryland's Grizzly River Rampage. The tunnel on it was especially fast and had a giant automated grizzly bear in it growling at riders. Some of the original rockscapes from the ride can still be seen by the mall parking lot. The park also had one of the few Bradley & Kaye Airplane rides flying high above the Opryland lake.

Thanks for the correction Dukeis#1 on the Screamin' Delta Demon. Sadly the Intamin bobsled coaster is sitting in a field rotting at Old Indiana according to RCDB.com. Maybe The Great Escape would like to resurrect it. ;-)

Gaylord has almost sucked all the life out of the Music City for the almighty dollar.